You're Ten Hag - what do you do?

1. Considering our defensive issues Casemiro should be paired only with Amrabat or Mct. No one else.
2. Drop Onana, enough is enough, at least for now
3. Give a chance to Maguire at least until he starts f-king up.
4. Don't be afraid to drop Bruno or Rashford when they don't perform, I know they are our stars, our best players in the last couple of years but they should understand that there are certain standards when playing for our club.
5. Give Garnacho a run of games on the right, how bad can he be there?
6. Instruct the players to be more compact and to keep the spaces between the lines at minimum, we are all over the pitch like mozzarella in the oven.
7. Give Eddie Howe a call and ask him what does he do to make his players run with such energy and desire.

I know we have injuries but he's not the first manager to face this situation, he should have a plan B or C, which he doesn't seem to have.
 
Shift the narrative to 'two players United NEED to buy in January'.
 
fergiewherearethou said:
1. Considering our defensive issues Casemiro should be paired only with Amrabat or Mct. No one else.
2. Drop Onana, enough is enough, at least for now
3. Give a chance to Maguire at least until he starts f-king up.
4. Don't be afraid to drop Bruno or Rashford when they don't perform, I know they are our stars, our best players in the last couple of years but they should understand that there are certain standards when playing for our club.
5. Give Garnacho a run of games on the right, how bad can he be there?
6. Instruct the players to be more compact and to keep the spaces between the lines at minimum, we are all over the pitch like mozzarella in the oven.
7. Give Eddie Howe a call and ask him what does he do to make his players run with such energy and desire.

I know we have injuries but he's not the first manager to face this situation, he should have a plan B or C, which he doesn't seem to have.
Click to expand...
So relegation is your answer
 
I have sung this song now for 10 months.






We have a coaching problem, injury not withstanding. Nothing else.

All our frontline is there now. Bar Sancho who we all agree hasn't offered anything big for us.

Midfield everyone is fit and available.

Both GK are there.

Only defence has availability issues.

But in more ways than one our play looks exactly same as how it looked before the season ends last summer. So defence issues not withstanding we are a very poor coached team.
 
Pack the midfield. More possession based football. Stop the free flow of goals conceeded. Get a few 1=0 wins get confidence back and then tweak tactics. This free flowing transitional nonsense is not working.
 
Think ahead. Sign De Gea on a contract until the end of the season. Onana still number 1. But we need someone decent for AFCON.

Figure out what’s going on with the injuries. How did the medical team get Martinez so wrong.

Stop being Rashford and Bruno dependent.
 
Batten down the hatches:

- Rotate more often where you can. Currently that means in attack and possibly midfield.

- Call up an actual left back instead of shoehorning Amrabat there. Use a RW instead of Bruno, and this could include a youth product.

- Shore up tactically to give low confidence players & injury-riddled areas some extra protection. That may mean dropping some attackers.

- Get a number of players to be "injured" for this international break a la Fergie

Or just say screw it and go full on with the youth. But we're screeching towards the point of no return and will be extremely fecked (well, moreso) if we have to bring a new manager in to dig themselves out of another manager's team.
 
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Drop Bruno, Rashford, Onana and Casemiro. I'm not saying forever, but until they buck up their act. How they react to being dropped will tell us a lot about their character.

Play Dalot LB, Lindelof RB. A stop gap measure but playing a right footed midfielder with limited pace at LB is a disaster waiting to happen (well, not waiting to happen, it DID happen!)

Just get some legs, energy and enthusiasm into the team! Sick of seeing slow, old men traipsing around the pitch, we're getting our arses handed to us with this approach.
 
He needs to accept that his new system hasn’t worked, and think of a way of playing that better suits our players. No team is as open as United in the league, it’s embarrassing.
 
Jacob said:
When all are fit:

Onana
AWB -------------- Varane ----------- Martinez ---------- Shaw
Casemiro ---------- Amrabat
Antony ---------------------- Mount ------------------ Garnacho
Hojlund

For now:

Onana
Dalot ----------------- Varane ------------ Evans ----------- Reguillon
Casemiro ---------- Amrabat
Antony ---------------------- Mount ------------------ Garnacho
Hojlund​
Click to expand...

Reguillon isn't fit.
 
Onana
AWB/Lindelof ---------------- Varane/Maguire ----------- Martinez
Antony/Bruno ---------- Casemiro/McTominay/Mainoo ---------- Amrabat/Mount/Eriksen/Hannibal ---------- Shaw/Malacia
Garnacho/Bruno/Pellistri/Amad -------- Hojlund/Martial ---------- Rashford/Garnacho​



Honestly, I'd give this a try when everyone is available. 3-4-3 Could prove more stability in midfield and defense. Can switch around players to play more attacking/defensively.
 
fergiewherearethou said:
1. Considering our defensive issues Casemiro should be paired only with Amrabat or Mct. No one else.
2. Drop Onana, enough is enough, at least for now
3. Give a chance to Maguire at least until he starts f-king up.
4. Don't be afraid to drop Bruno or Rashford when they don't perform, I know they are our stars, our best players in the last couple of years but they should understand that there are certain standards when playing for our club.
5. Give Garnacho a run of games on the right, how bad can he be there?
6. Instruct the players to be more compact and to keep the spaces between the lines at minimum, we are all over the pitch like mozzarella in the oven.
7. Give Eddie Howe a call and ask him what does he do to make his players run with such energy and desire.

I know we have injuries but he's not the first manager to face this situation, he should have a plan B or C, which he doesn't seem to have.
Click to expand...

McTominay and Casemiro doesn't work. It has to be Amrabat.

Dropping Onana now would destroy him and we'll be looking for a new GK next summer.

I agree, right now, Maguire has to come in, if only because we need to play Lindelof at LB.

Yup, Bruno and Rashford could and should be dropped. Mount for Bruno, Garnacho for Rashford and see what happens. Try the team from the league cup with against Palace more often perhaps.

Antony is back so he'll play on the right.

Definitely needs to work on spaces between players and motivating them to run and run.
 
bosnian_red said:
Go back to basics as Sir Alex would do to get confidence. I'm not saying his system won't ever work, but with current confidence levels and injuries, it's making things work. Play players more in their normal positions. Conceding too many goals and too easy to play through, then tighten up the midfield more. Drop underperformers, at least temporarily, and get a group of hard workers in together. Get some players out of the firing line.
Onana, Rashford and Bruno will be fine eventually. But I really think it'll do them good to take a seat for this Brentford game to reset over the break.

Hojlund
Garnacho Mount Antony
Amrabat Casemiro
Dalot Maguire Varane Lindelof
Altay​
Click to expand...
Yup. Exactly this. Become hard to beat. It won't be pretty but it should be effective.
 
Coach the team to play better than the opponents in games where we have far superior players.

In occasional ames where we have inferior players then doesn't matter too much, it is getting beaten by worse teams that will cost him his job
 
Drop Bruno, play Mount. Play Casemiro with Amrabat in midfield.

Play a wingers on the wing. If he doesn't rate Pellistri and Antony is not ready or playing well, play Rashford right and instruct him to play as an actual winger (like for the first Hojlund goal against Gala). Amad should be an option when he's back.

Rotate Casemiro with Amrabat if the game allows it. Maybe even play Bruno in the Eriksen position. He was ok last season when playing deeper.

Trust Onana till January but if he doesn't improve, think about a long-term replacement. Consider the guy we sold in Germany with a nice buy-back clause.

Defence I'd just look to solidify until we get our injured players back. Bring back that youth who played well in pre-season if possible.
 
Stacks said:
we have no more injuries than Spurs, Sheffield, Forrest, Villa, have 1 or 2 more than Bournemouth, Brentford, Arsenal, Btown, Burnley, less injuries than Palace and 5 less than Chelsea.

Many of those teams are above us in the table
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Injuries for United are mainly centred around defence lads that would be sitting on the bench normally are starting at right back,centre back and have no left back that a new signing and midfielder has to fill in there and add in a new goalkeeper having a ropey start to his United career.

I brought up the Liverpool run already in 2021 and they probably didn't have more injuries than most teams at the time either but the injuries was nearly all in defence also and their keeper normally solid was making errors.
 
I'd be inclined to drop Rashford and Bruno. We actually looked like a team in the league cup game against palace. Those two players need to know they can be dropped if they don't perform and other players can take their position. It can't get any worse and play a proper 4-3-3. Front three would be Garnacho Hojlund Anthony, Midfield three Casemiro Amrabat Mount. This would help our defence immensly. Back four Dalot Maguire, Varane and Lindelöf right back. It cannot get any worse.

I wouldn't be against starting Martial on the left either. He's not a striker and played his best games for United on the left wing. Ten hag has to do something drastic and quick.
 
1. Stop playing that high up if you want to play transition football.
2. Get the defensive line back by 20 yards and play a mid-block or a low-block
3. Maguire in defence instead of Lindelof
4. McT and Hannibal/Amrabat in midfield. Drop Casemiro for now
5. Mount/Bruno to interchange between RW and 10
 
I think he has to go young. Play Lindelof at RB and switch Dalot to the left. Allows Amrabat to come into the middle for Casemiro and play Mount and Hannibal ahead of him. Mainoo and Gore should get minutes over any of McTominay or Eriksen for different reasons. And then let Rashford have a game on the right with Garnacho on the left. We might not be as creative from an individual brilliance standpoint but our structure and decision making should be miles better without Bruno and Casemiro free styling and moving Amrabat into the base of the midfield. Should stop us from leaking goals as much and give us more control over each match.

The easiest way to turn around a bad run of form is with pure energy and some fresh faces. It's what we did when we beat Liverpool at OT last season and it's what we should do now. Don't change the formation or general style, just change the personnel (especially in midfield). The biggest issue of our team this year is that we win duels at a terrible rate. When you aren't winning 50/50's you're always going to be in danger of conceding or losing control of matches even if you've dominated possession for a spell.
 
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We need to get some stability in the team and get a few results going.

Play Cas and Amrabat in CM, with one of Bruno/Mount/Eriksen ahead of them. Regardless of how it looks or whatever, the team isn’t in the right place now for Bruno and Mount at the same time.

Play An actual RW. Fortunately with Antony on the way back this should improve. I don’t particularly rate him but one thing he does bring is defensive stability.

Play actual defenders in defense, even if it means Lindelof at RB and Dalot at LB.

We need some wins now no matter what, to improve the mindset of the team and the atmosphere around the club as a whole, not to mention ETH himself needs some wins. We aren’t going to go from playing how we are now to playing like Pep’s Barcelona. If we need to grind out some wins then so be it.

What we are doing right now is not working. We need to try something different, at least for a while.
 
Fix the leaky defence. You can’t have a successful team if you don’t have a rock solid defence first and foremost.
So I’d say that the more urgent priority is to focus on stabilising the defence.
A good old 4-5-1 out of possession, tight lines and tight spaces between defence and midfield. Even if this means dropping to a low block when we have the ball.

Basically, the return of Ole Ball but with more control
 


Looking at the clip compared to right now there's a few differences:
  1. Quite evidently every player is a lot more confident making them calmer on the ball
  2. The ball is kept on the ground more. Lots more simple passes. The ball is calmed down before passing forward.
  3. Players moving much more off the ball and the spaces between them are kept consistent
  4. There's more players comfortable with the ball. Malacia, Shaw, Eriksen, Martial.
  5. CB partnership has an aggressor-coverer pair.
How do we go back to this?
  1. I think we need to just calm it down a little, slow our play down. Casemiro and Bruno need keep cooler heads, keep it simple. Go back to basics. Let's keep the ball and be solid off the ball first.
  2. Amrabat needs to come into midfield ASAP. Covers for Casemiro's loss in physicality and gives us Eriksen's calmness.
  3. We need more players comfortable keeping the ball. Just Amrabat is not enough. I would drop Bruno for Eriksen, but that would not happen. Martial for Rashford arguably too - but again I don't see it happening. Antony should help, though.
  4. In the clip above we had a good blend of players who can keep the ball and players who force the issue, as well as players who are in the team for their out-of-possession work and players in the team for their in-possession work. Casemiro, Fred, Varane, Wan Bissaka were balanced by Eriksen, Malacia, Shaw, Rashford, Martial and Bruno(neutral).We have to achieve this balance again. Mount needs to be balanced by Amrabat, Varane needs to be balanced by Maguire/Evans and so on.
  5. We Lindelof- Varane is not a good fit. Both are backfoot defenders, Maguire(aggressor) should play with Varane. I think Reguilon is back at the weekend if not Dalot at LB, Lindelof at RB.
 
1. Focus on having a consistent dominant, controlling style of play when we have the ball, focus on winning the ball back quickly, and being compact when out of possession
2. Play Amrabat, and mount and eriksen.
3. Drop Bruno (he needs a rest) and Rashford (poor performance)
4. Play Garnacho, Rasmus and Anthony...I would ditch Anthony for Amad the moment he is fit(martial, Anthony and Rashford can come as subs)
5. Play Dalot as the LB, Lindelof in the RB, and bring Maguire or Evans back with Varane
6. Play Onana again, but if he performs poorly again, use Heaton over Onana. Reintroduce Onana later on
7. Sign Olise, Todibo, Diogo Costa, and Inacio + Second Striker in the winter and summer windows. Dont be afraid of letting players like Rashford, Sancho, Onana or Anthony go in these windows simply because you signed them or because they are on big contracts. They are not ready to do what is necessary to get as back to the top or they are not talented enough to justify their place
 
The thing is the players are thinking too much. They aren’t feeling the game, they aren’t connecting. This may be down to a couple of things
a) directions from management are too literal and over specific
B)the players are distracted by the turmoil of the club sale, the critics, the internet.

b) players are over all weak minded and are regretted the decision to come to United or stay (Rashford, since we see a different player for England right now).

First thing I would do is work on the their ability to just instinctually play, when we do that we look pretty damn good. Then a major mistake comes from one of our players, basically like some mistake you don’t see in the championship or lower leagues because they play simple gritty football

sugar_kane said:
This isn't a thread to discuss whether Ten Hag should go or not or whether he's doing a good/bad job, but rather pose the question of if you were in his position what would you do to turn things round?
Click to expand...
hollywoodpass said:
Above all else he needs to sure up the defense ASAP.

We are conceding far too many goals, and the team seem to have lost the their "pull it out of the bag against all odds, you score one will score 2".

Get the team solid, whatever way it takes. 5, 4, 1 or two Def Mids. McTom and Case. 3 CDs plus Case/Arambat midfield. He has options. He is not being flexible when we have a huge injury crisis that means we cannot play in our desired way.
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I’m a big fan of throwing a cb into midfield when you need this. Casemiro needs time off, and he’s got the red card as it is. Seems to play better in Europe but to me that’s just from an eye test.

naguire, Lindelof Martinez (i know he’s out)and maybe evans for the end of a game can play next to Amrabat. i would leave varane and lindelof at cb and maguire further up, he’s agressive and he can get beat by a 1-2 but he has varane and Lindelof behind him instead of the goal. He can chip a ball in as well.
———Martial——-Hojland
——————-Mount
Amrabat-Maguire-Hannibal
Dalot-Lindelo-Varane-Antony
 
Maybe just go back to basics? Shore up the defensive side of the tactics before trying expansive, tactical game?
 
For me he's trying to be too clever. This system of full backs coming into midfield and being a centre mid in possession on one side has to stop. This is why many of the mistakes are happening, too much is being expected of certain players and the shape of the team gets pulled apart when a turnover happens and players not knowing what position to take up and who is marking the opposition runners.

Secondly the gap in midfield is huge, Casemiro is playing far too high up the pitch and doesn't have the mobility to get back in position when the ball is lost. There is no discipline in midfield, one minute casemiro is furthest forward and Bruno is deep, the next Eriksen is playing as a DM. Whilst we are losing games you must get the defensive shape and structure right. Once you get that right the opposition will have to commit more players forward to create openings which can then mean we can be a better transition side which is what he claims we should become.
 
-drop Rashford
-drop Onana
-stop playing Bruno on the wing
-move Amrabat into midfield to help Casemiro
 
Lindelöf at RB, Dalot at LB.

Casemiro, Eriksen and Bruno or Mount in CM. Antony or Rashford RW, rotate LW.

Back to basics, the players must know how to defend and which positions to occupy.
 
Thinking about it, I'd consider playing Casemiro CB for the short term.

He did last season for one game at least and the less ground to cover would expose Casemiro less for his pace.

Play Amrabat ahead of him.
 
Onana
Lindelof Varane Evans Dalot
Amrabat Casemiro
Mount Hannibal Garnacho
Hojlund

Bayindir
Maguire
Mainoo
Eriksen
Bruno
Antony
Rashford
Martial

Someone tell me we don't win this game with this lineup and bench?

It has all we need to compete in the Premier League home or away. And also a very strong bench for Premier League standards.

Until we have a left back fit we need to play a hard working team and the individuals to pull it off.

One by one you can try the crybabies, prima donna's, show ponies and overpaid cnuts off the bench to see if they truly are rotten and unable to affect the game.

I believe it would not only win the game but show that Ten Hag isn't too stubborn to only stick to his own ideas of playing Mount CM, not playing Amrabat and Casemiro together, only favouring Antony for RW or that he doesn't have the bollocks to drop Bruno or Rashford when he knows it's best for the team.

Unfortunately I think he really is that stubborn and he underestimated the need for two midfielders that can defend.
If he continues down this path of stubbornness he's sacked by Xmas. On the bright side a new manager would have a good squad that needs a CB, RB, CM and RW.

All the change required is doable in one summer transfer window. Ten Hag and United just fecked the last one up.
 
1. Coach better
2. Make better signings
3. Implement a successful system
4. Come up with better tactics
5. Make better substitutions
6. Improve man management of squad
7. Win more games
 
Win or lose on Saturday, I am going on vacation for 2 weeks.

What's the point in making millions, if you don't take time off to enjoy them?
 
Overhaul FC said:
Onana
Lindelof Varane Evans Dalot
Amrabat Casemiro
Mount Hannibal Garnacho
Hojlund

Bayindir
Maguire
Mainoo
Eriksen
Bruno
Antony
Rashford
Martial

Someone tell me we don't win this game with this lineup and bench?

It has all we need to compete in the Premier League home or away. And also a very strong bench for Premier League standards.

Until we have a left back fit we need to play a hard working team and the individuals to pull it off.

One by one you can try the crybabies, prima donna's, show ponies and overpaid cnuts off the bench to see if they truly are rotten and unable to affect the game.

I believe it would not only win the game but show that Ten Hag isn't too stubborn to only stick to his own ideas of playing Mount CM, not playing Amrabat and Casemiro together, only favouring Antony for RW or that he doesn't have the bollocks to drop Bruno or Rashford when he knows it's best for the team.

Unfortunately I think he really is that stubborn and he underestimated the need for two midfielders that can defend.
If he continues down this path of stubbornness he's sacked by Xmas. On the bright side a new manager would have a good squad that needs a CB, RB, CM and RW.

All the change required is doable in one summer transfer window. Ten Hag and United just fecked the last one up.
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Half the team are now his signings. Where is the change in attitude? Nowhere.
 
Accept that this team is average and we are not competing for titles. And that there is no such thing as a quick fix that puts you back in contention for the top honours.

You need to build a squad from the ground up, with a style of play, a combined mentality, a hunger to improve, a desire to win. A youthful energy. And you need the right characters to fit into this system. And it's not achieved by knee jerk signings or bringing in 30 year old veterans, on huge salaries.

You start with a 5 or 10 year plan, and you take the hit on dropping down the league.

Arsenal finished 8th for 2 seasons under Arteta. They didn't sack him, because there was a plan in place.

We are still aiming for the stars, but the ladder we bought doesn't have any rungs. You have to build them from the bottom up, one at a time. And it requires patience.

We all need to take a step back and let nature take its course. Because this pressure and expectation will never be met without the time required to fix it properly.
 


According to Tifo, it sounds like unless you don't the exact players or a player missing for the ETH system aint going to work. And the coaching staff doesn't seem to be able to correct the same problems over & over.
 
Gordon Godot said:
Half the team are now his signings. Where is the change in attitude? Nowhere.
Click to expand...

4 out of the 11 are his signings currently, and it could be argued only two are playing in their best positions, Onana and Hojlund. Let's see if he makes the change and plays Amrabat in midfield and Mount in the forward line. If he doesn't do that he's obviously going to be in trouble.
 
When you are in a hole the first thing to do is to stop digging.
ETH needs to get all hands to the pumps; with 4 defeats in our first 7 PL games we are going to find it difficult to make the top six, if we lose another two from the first 10 games we could be facing a relegation battle.
If that thought doesn't scare the s**t out of the players nothing will.

He has to do something about Rashford and Bruno, two super stars who are simply not performing at anything like their billing. Realistically, ETH can't keep expecting lesser players to turn in 100% performances when his super stars are not performing enough rescue acts.

Time for some home truths Erik for you and your men!
Big Sam is on notice!!
 
Go to Turkey to get a hair transplant. The players will respect him more with a full head of hair.
 
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